#blockcheese

Cheese, a milk-derived dairy food, is a highly-valued product whose origin can be traced back to several thousands of years ago. Early accounts of cheese production exist from ancient civilizations in Egypt, Greece and Rome, but it is unclear where the process of cheesemaking first began (Jones et al., 2000). Although cheese is a widespread global commodity today, its presence was originally concentrated in Europe until colonialism made it known to other parts of the world. In 1815, the first modern cheese factory opened in Switzerland, marking the beginning of cheese industrialization (Quackenbush, 2018). In the United States, large-scale production of cheese did not become fully widespread until World War II. Today, processed cheese, which includes many additives in promise of a longer shelf-life, is the primary product of cheese consumption in both America and Europe (McGee, 2004).

Despite the consumption of processed cheese, a strong culture surrounding the making of artisanal, or hand-craft cheese is also on the rise. In the U.S., the number of artisanal cheese makers has doubled since 2000 (Paxson, 2008). Furthermore, membership in the American Cheese Society, which consists of artisan cheese producers and sellers, has increased substantially as well (Paxson, 2008). These cheesemakers use unpasteurized milk, which arguably makes the cheese taste better by preserving the milk’s natural enzymes. In an era where almost everything dairy-related is highly pasteurized, it is hard to believe that raw milk would not receive any backlash. In particular, the FDA has spoken out against the use of raw milk in cheesemaking, referring to the process as a “potential biohazard” (Paxson, 2008). This has resulted in the creation laws that require cheese to be aged for at least 60 days before being sold.

Cheese is a unique commodity because its characterization depends on many levels of criteria, beginning with age and moisture content, followed by fat content and curing methods. Other factors that influence the variety of cheese production include the type of milk, flavor, and country or region of origin (Fox et al., 2000). The moisture content of cheese, which depends on the tightness of its mould and length of fermentation, determines its level or softness or hardness. Typically, a tighter mould and longer preparation time creates a harder cheese (left), while a softer mould and shorter preparation time creates a softer cheese (right).

Furthermore, the milk can stem from a variety of animal sources, including cow, goat and sheep. Cheese serves many different purposes in cooking, and is sold in different forms, including block, sliced, and shredded. The International Dairy Foundation recognizes over 500 different types of cheese, emphasizing the diversity of this commodity in both production and consumption (Jones, 2013).

For my Contemporary Anthropological Theory class, I was tasked with choosing a food commodity and doing optical research on its presence in food stores within the D.C. area. Knowing the great variety that can exist within different types of cheese, I chose to study block cheese in five different grocery stores throughout Northwest Washington, D.C. I began my field work at Whole Foods Market located in Foggy Bottom, the neighborhood that is home to the George Washington University (GW). The variety of options available and well-designed display at Whole Foods fit well with its high-quality caliber as a foodstore. I found a tremendous amount of block cheese options here. I also decided that I was going to focus on Manchego, my favorite type, as an index cheese for comparison throughout the project. At Whole Foods, Manchego was present in different varieties: 3-month, 6-month, and 12-month aged. Leaving Whole Foods, I knew that my block cheese expectations were now set to a high level for the next four stores.

Although I was not expecting as great of a selection of block cheese at Trader Joe’s, I actually found that the selection was almost as large as at Whole Foods. On the other hand, the cheese display at Trader Joe’s appeared to be comparatively less upscale than at Whole Foods. For example, at Whole Foods, each type of cheese had a wheel, on top of which sat the block slices that were being sold. The labels for each cheese were also in black, giving a sleek appearance to the display. However, at Trader Joe’s, all the cheeses were in one large display, without any wheels of cheese separating them from each other. Also, the labels for each cheese were white, and the font for each description appeared as though it was hand-written, giving the display a much more informal look than that of Whole Foods. For the Manchego, I only saw one type, the 3-month aged. The 6-month and 12-month aged cheeses were missing here. This single offering exemplified the lack of variety in the cheese selection at Trader Joe’s compared to Whole Foods.

In my third visit, I went to Dean & DeLuca, an upscale Italian Mart in the center of Georgetown, expecting to find a heaven of cheeses that would far exceed my Whole Foods standards. However, what I found was that the store was much smaller than Whole Foods in general, and its cheese selection was resultantly smaller. It was in fact less than half the size of the display at Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s. Focusing on the Manchego, I saw a 6-month aged, 12-month aged, and a rosemary-infused Manchego. I did not see any infused Manchego cheeses at Whole Foods, so this selection was certainly unique to Dean & DeLuca. Furthermore, the lack of 3-month aged Manchego, which typically has a lower value than the greater ages, fits well with the store’s image of selling a limited range of high quality products. Thus, although the cheese display was small at Dean & DeLuca, the options still appeared to be on the higher end of the scale. Dean & DeLuca also had a similar display layout as Whole Foods, with the wheels of each cheese present. The labels for each cheese were in white, but their font appeared to be much more professional, and less folksy, than at Trader Joe’s.

The “social” Safeway in the neighborhood of Georgetown was my fourth grocery store of visit. Here, I was shocked to find a cheese display that was as good, if not better than the one at Whole Foods. Unlike any other store so far, this display actually had a name, as it was called Cheese World. I saw a great variety of cheese types here. For Manchego, I found all three kinds: 3-month, 6-month and 12-month aged. Like the display at Whole Foods, most of the cheeses here were displayed on their respective cheese wheels. Something about this Cheese World made me feel like I was buying real artisanal cheese. It could have been the cheese wheels, but perhaps it was the aesthetically appealing display, as the cheeses were packaged with bright colors. These vibrant colors contrasted greatly with the neutral, more earthy colors at the Trader Joe’s display.

For my last grocery store, I came back to Foggy Bottom to visit the CVS on campus. I was not able to find a variety of block cheese selections here at all. Instead, I came across only two brands of block cheese embedded in rows of butter, fake butter and other dairy options. Both cheese options were of the same type: sharp cheddar. The lack of Manchego, or any other cheese besides cheddar, contrasted greatly with the variety of cheese available at other stores. However, CVS is a convenience store, so it is not expected to have the same level of variety in its display. While the other stores emphasized the selling of artisanal cheese, this was clearly not at all the case for CVS, which only sold processed cheese. The two cheese options at CVS were made by Kraft and Cracker Barrel. These companies are both large-scale, industrial corporations that manufacture cheese products which are far lower in quality than the cheeses seen at Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Dean & Deluca’s and Safeway. Amazingly, the price for a block of cheddar cheese at CVS was the same as the price for a block of Manchego Cheese at Whole Foods. However, CVS is open 24-hours, and contains many other food and non-food items. Thus, the high price and low quality are tradeoffs for the store’s hallmark aspect of convenience. Theoretically, a person coming into the store in the middle of the night could buy both cheddar cheese and toothpaste at the same time.

Of the five grocery stores I visited, Whole Foods and Safeway were the strongest in their block cheese options and display quality. The appearance of block cheese on the market plays a big role in its perception, inclining cheese buyers to purchase their cheese from more attractive, gourmet displays. I dismiss CVS entirely because it had no real display or craft cheese options. The two available cheeses were manufactured industrially, rather than artisanally. Furthermore, while Trader Joe’s did offer a wide variety of cheese options, its display was not as comparatively appealing, because it was not entirely suggestive of block cheese as a gourmet, handcrafted commodity. The creation of this craft imaginary for cheese consumers is what distinguishes the cheese displays at Whole Foods and Safeway. I would not entirely dismiss Dean & DeLuca, as it still had high-end and unique options such as the rosemary-infused Manchego. However, although the limited selection did not take away from its high-end quality, the small display still failed to create the same level of imaginary seen at Whole Foods and Safeway.

For a store like Whole Foods that brands itself on the high quality of the products it sells, it is only expected that it will have a large and impressive artisanal cheese display. On its online website, the market details the volume of its cheese options, including 32 soft, 10 grating, 10 blue-veined, 74 semi-firm, and 14 fresh cheeses (Johnston, 2007). Altogether, this amounts to over a hundred different options that encompass different sources of milk, lengths of fermentation, and flavors. At the same time, Whole Foods is well-stocked in other commodities as well, making it a great store for shoppers to experience an artisanal cheese selection while buying other groceries.

On the other hand, at Safeway, I was much more surprised to see this vast cheese selection. The extensive block cheese selection is likely related to the location of this particular Safeway in an affluent zip code of Northwest D.C. that includes the neighborhood of Georgetown, where food quality is held to higher standards. Safeway is a national chain, but from personal experience, not all branches offer this Cheese World like the Georgetown branch. It is thus due to its location that this Safeway is comparable to a market like Whole Foods in its cheese selection. Like Whole Foods, this Safeway is also a full supermarket where people do not have to compromise the rest of their grocery shopping to obtain craft cheese. The same can not be said for a specialty store like Dean & DeLuca, or a convenience store like CVS.

From a marketing perspective, Whole Foods and Safeway also did the best job in selling pairings for their cheese options. In both stores, their cheese displays were strategically so close to the crackers and jams that you could not look at the cheese without seeing these pairings as well. Known as upselling, this phenomenon is a clever marketing strategy that not only boosts the market’s own sales, but also enhances the ease of the customer’s cheese selection. Although the cracker aisle in Trader Joe’s is directly across from the cheeses, the cheese display itself is still in isolation, so shoppers may miss this placement while passing through the cheese section. At Dean & DeLuca, a few varieties of crackers and jams are above the cheese display, but a display of sausages in the same refrigerator takes away from the spotlight of the cheese display. At CVS, the cheeses do not even have their own display, and the two options are instead placed next to butter in the general dairy refrigerator. For an avid cheese lover and shopper, these distractive placements are a hindrance to the focus of their cheese selection.

Ultimately, cheese remains one of the most versatile food products in both its production and consumption. Moreover, the U.S. cheese market’s recent focus on craft cheese in particular places more emphasis on in the product’s quality of display. Therefore, stores like Whole Foods in Foggy Bottom and Safeway in Georgetown, which perform an exemplary job in both aspects, deserve positive reputations for being gourmet markets and modern hubs for craft block cheese.

References

Fox, P. F., Guinee, T. P., Cogan, T. M., McSweeney, P. L. H. (2000). Principal Families of cheese. Fundamentals of cheese science, 388. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?id=oRp5VCVTQQC&pg=PA388#v=onepage&q&f=false

Johnston, J. (2007). The Citizen-Consumer Hybrid: Ideological Tensions and the Case of Whole Foods Market. Springer, 37, 229-270. doi: 10.1007/s11186-007-9058-5.

Jones, G. (2013, January 29). Conversation with a cheesemonger. The Reluctant Gourmet. Retrieved from https://www.reluctantgourmet.com/conversation-with-a-cheesemonger/

McGee, Harold (2004). On Food and Cooking. The science and lore of the kitchen. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?id=mQgklAEACAAJ&hl=en

Paxon, H. (2008). Post-Pasteurian Cultures: The Microbiopolitics of Raw-Milk Cheese in the United States. American Anthropological Association, doi: 10.1111/j.1548-1360.2008.00002.x

Take 5. Spoiler alert! You know the saying that goes, third time’s the charm? Well, this isn’t the third time, and it’s certainly not the charm either. I walk into the CVS on Pennsylvania Avenue, on the GW campus, on a sunny Wednesday afternoon. I have yet to realize the disappointment I’m going to feel over the block cheese selection here.

CVS stands for Convenience, Value, and Service. To be honest, with all the experiences I’ve had with CVS, I’ve really only seen the Convenience aspect at play. What value? What service?

Ok, before I really start hating on this store, let me go back to the cheese so that you can understand why. I stay on the ground floor and head towards the refrigerated section in the back, because I know that the upstairs section has no food. I start seeing all these grab-and-go foods. Sandwiches, pretzels and hummus, protein bars. Fine, that’s normal for a convenience store. Let’s find the cheese, though.

I turn the corner  and see the dairy section. I think I’m getting close. Milk, more milk, sliced provolone cheese, (bottom right) kraft cheese singles (are you even surprised?), butter… and then I see it. A single block of Kraft sharp cheddar cheese (bottom left). THAT’S IT? And it’s $6.39. Is that a joke?

No way. I keep looking in desperation. My eyes scan over the whole refrigerated section. If I see one more butter or fake butter option (top picture), I think I might throw up. Forget “value” and

“service.” In what world is it considered convenient to have only a single block cheese option available?

I apologize. Turns out there’s another block cheese available: Cracker Barrel’s extra sharp cheddar (bottom right). Wait, is that the same Cracker Barrel that you see on the way to like Delaware? Also, what if I don’t want sharp cheddar cheese? Well, then the message we get here is that that’s unfortunate. The C in CVS won’t be there for you.

I get it. My expectations are too high. But you know what? Northwest D.C. has some really great block cheese options, so my expectations SHOULD be high. Shoutout to Whole Foods, Safeway, Trader Joe’s, and Dean & DeLuca. All the minor issues I had with your cheese selections are nothing compared to this. At least you had a selection to begin with!

So, @CVS, do you really think that anyone’s going to be dying to buy your two wonderful block cheese options? I guess desperate times call for desperate measures, and that’s how you make your profit. You even increase your prices because you’re charging people for the convenience, too. Whatever. That’s enough for now. This is obviously not a store for a Manchego lover, and I should have known that. But even besides that, can you have a single block cheese option that’s not sharp cheddar? Jeez! Bottom line: if you want any other block cheese besides sharp cheddar and you’re at CVS, f.o.r.g.e.t. it.

Take 4. It’s 4 pm on Thursday afternoon, and 67 degrees outside. Perfect weather. I get out of class and the last thing I want to do is go to the library. I decide to walk off campus towards Georgetown. I realize I have to come up with a plan, otherwise I will end up shopping for some clothes that I don’t need. There is no better time than now to visit my fourth store for this food project. So I head to the “social” Safeway, a supermarket located on Wisconsin Avenue. I am excited to see if this grocery store lives up to its nickname.

After what seems like a really long walk, I arrive. The entrance to Safeway is not big, and I start thinking that this is going to be a small store. What I don’t realize, though, is that this entrance is actually just to an escalator that leads to the main entrance. The store itself is on the top floor. Urban planning, beats me.

I walk into the store and I am immediately taken back by how big it is. Each aisle is fully stocked and seems to go on for a mile. The store doesn’t seem crowded, but I do see some people in every aisle that I walk by. Definitely a superstore.

I start circling around the edge of the store to find the cheese, thinking that it will probably be near the dairy aisle. I pass the fresh produce, and then start seeing individual sections for milk, butter, and yogurt. Where’s the cheese? I see some types of shredded cheese near the milks, but that’s not what I’m looking for. I want block cheese. I even pass a Kosher fridge display, where I finally see a single type of cheddar cheese. The rest of the aisle is filled with Kosher pickles and different condiments like mustard and horseradish. Seriously? Where’s the main cheese section?

At this point, I’m already at the bakery, which is almost back to where I entered the store. I’ve made a full circle, and no cheese? Great. Maybe this isn’t such a superstore after all.

Right when I start losing hope, there it is (top left). Cheese World. That’s actually what it’s called! I come across a huge, semicircle fridge display, filled with any and every kind of block cheese you can imagine. A large array of crackers and jams also fill the entire top ledge of the display (bottom left). Above the whole display is a huge board named “Major Styles of Cheese” that categorizes the vast array of cheeses available, from soft and mild to hard and sharp. Wow, this really came out of nowhere. And it’s amazing.

I stand there, taking it all in. I then search for the Manchego, as always. They have a 3-month, 6-month, and 12-month aged. It looks like Safeway is accommodating to every kind of Manchego lover. I pick up a 6-month aged triangle (top right). It’s priced at almost 7 dollars. Did someone say Whole Foods? I think it was the same price there. Funny.

I also see an additional fridge display titled “Gourmet Cheeses” (bottom left) that has pre-sliced block cheeses in decorative displays (bottom right). Pre-made cheese boards? I’ll take it. All we need now is some wine.

The employee working the Cheese Display, though, is hardly working. Instead, he is holding a conversation with what appears to be his friend. They were talking about their personal lives the whole time I was there. I wonder if his friend came there just to talk to him, because I didn’t see him interested in any of the cheese. They call it the social Safeway for a reason, I guess.

Take 3. I find myself at Dean & DeLuca’s in Georgetown. It’s 6 p.m. on a Saturday night. A small, upscale Italian mart in the heart of M street, Dean & DeLuca’s can be better described with one word: overpriced.

I walk in hesitantly, already knowing that I’m going to spend too much money on something I won’t need- probably chocolate. Stay focused. The layout of the store is a little unfamiliar to me, and I walk around for a while until I finally find the block cheeses. I notice that all the workers are dressed like chefs, and are serving food from the center island of the store. Did someone say bougie? There’s no better word to describe that I’m seeing. 

From a distant view, it seems as though the cheese section is not as large as I expected it to be for an Italian mart (bottom right). I walk over to the display, noticing its strategic location across from shelves containing jams and crackers. I also notice that there are sausages in the same display of the cheeses, perhaps a marketing effort that is really just taking away from the display’s focus on cheese (top left).

Although this store does not have many cheese options, the selection still appears to be unique and high in quality. I again choose to focus on Manchego here (top right), my favorite cheese. I see a 6-month Manchego, 12-month Manchego, and Rosemary-infused Manchego. I ask the lady working behind the counter what how much the 12-month Manchego costs. $32 per pound. Are you serious? I think something in my face told her that I was shocked, because she then added that the 12-month is the most expensive of their three options.

I also saw that there were a few varieties of goat cheese. There was also smoked mozzarella for $11.25 per pound (bottom left). What’s so special about smoked mozzarella? I’ve never tried it.

One price really caught my eye. here was a “Blue Old Chatham Ewes” cheese for $42 per pound. I hope to g** that tastes incredible! There was also one “featured” cheese sitting at the top ledge of the display. It was named “Gouda Beemster XO,” priced at $24.50 per pound. It didn’t look like anyone had bought any yet. No surprise. Next to the cheese were 3 bottles of extra virgin olive oil. I think the display was missing bread or something, because the bottles of olive oil next to the Gouda were otherwise placed in a strange location. Whatever. I lost interest and moved on after seeing that price, too.

SAY CHEESE: Trader Joe’s ed.

Take 2. Did you say cheese? This time I am at Trader Joe’s. It’s 11 a.m. on a Friday when I enter. I feel a deep sigh of relief when I remember it’s not a peak hour for the store. If you’ve ever been to the Trader Joe’s in West End on a Sunday night, you would know what I’m talking about. I’ve seen the check-out line so long that it starts at the entrance and wraps around the entire store.

Although I’m less familiar with the layout of Trader Joe’s, I still find the block cheese quickly because it is at the front of the store. I walk in and on my left I see a refrigerated area with six long rows (bottom left). The rows are divided into smaller sections that are labeled with different types of cheese. Each individual cheese on sale has smaller label with its name, origin, a small description, and its price per use. At the very bottom of the cheese is the name of the animal or plant that the rennet came from.

I come across one cheese that is labeled as “American” and has the name “Organic Pepper Jack” (bottom right). The description for the cheese is “Great for Nachos or add to any omelet!” and the Rennet is vegetable. Why is there so much glory for good old Pepper Jack? Oh sorry, I meant *Organic* Pepper Jack. I guess Trader Joe’s is trying really hard to make boring cheeses a big deal. Whatever.

Did someone say Manchego again? I see it and get excited for a second. But there’s only one kind, and it’s the 3-month aged. That’s not dry enough for me, so no thank you. Sad selection.

I see more variety in the Gruyère cheese (top right), with one that is aged 6 months, another that is cave-aged, and another that is “raw milk.” The “raw milk” Gruyère has a description of “from Switzerland! Produced in a small village. Slightly Nutty.” The description for the cave-aged type is instead focused on its pairing suggestions- “great with quiche, apples, or Pinot Grigio.”

I try looking at the overall layout of the cheeses to see if I can notice a certain pattern. It seems as though cheeses from the same region are all on the same row. One row has all the Swiss cheeses, while the row below it has all the American cheeses. There is also a row dedicated to all the different types of Goat cheeses, such as Goat Brie and Goat’s Milk Gouda. I couldn’t find a pattern related to prices on the rows, as cheeses priced at $2.99 and $9.99 were right next to each other. Above the cheese display, I see a painting (top left) that has the words “Trader Joes Table Since 1967.” I don’t think that the painting has to do with the cheeses specifically, and that instead it refers to the entirety of the fresh food in that part of the store.

I then walk around the rest of the store to see if there are other places with block cheese. I can’t find anything else. I also didn’t find any pairings for the cheeses at first, but I looked to the right and noticed that the cracker aisle directly faces the cheeses. Classic marketing.

While at the cheese display, I notice two women shopping. One was a younger woman who went straight for the gruyère as if she knew exactly where it was. The second woman appeared to be older, and it was hard to tell if she was looking for a specific type of cheese, but she was spending a lot of time reading each of the labels. I didn’t see her actually choose a cheese at the end.

SAY CHEESE: Whole Foods ed.

Welcome to the world of cheese! This is my first post for my field research project for Anth 4008. I will be studying cheese, specifically block cheese, in five different grocery stores.

Take 1. I start at the good old Foggy Bottom Whole Foods, also known as my second home. If you’re a GW student, you’re probably also a slave to Whole Foods. I mean, it’s a grocery store in the heart of our campus with a whole floor’s worth of prepared foods. Who isn’t going to go? Dare we ask for it to be affordable, though?

As a senior, I’m very familiar with the layout of Whole Foods. But I’ve never evaluated the store as closely as I will now. I walk in at 10 p.m. on a Monday night. The store is not nearly as crowded as it usually is during lunch or dinner hours. I go downstairs for the block cheese, because the upstairs area only has grab-and-go items and prepared foods. I know that the main cheese display is all the way at the back, so I head there.

While walking toward the back, I notice a large cheese display in the middle of the store (top left). What is this? It’s almost like a shrine for cheese! And it’s not just for any kind of cheese- it’s for the 24-month aged Parmigiano Reggiano that’s “hand-cracked in house.” Wow. I also notice that a huge cheese wheel sits at the center of this display. How authentic. The actual block slices of cheese for sale sit on top of this wheel, and the display also contains an array of seasoned crackers. Now that’s convenient. The placement of this display is a bit strange, because the middle of the store mainly has fresh fruits and vegetables. The closest display next to the cheese here was actually bananas. What do bananas have to do with cheese? Nothing, I hope.

As I continue towards the back of the store, I finally come across the entire array of block cheeses in an open, glass rim display. That’s it, exactly what I was looking for. You name a cheese, and I can probably find it for you here. For each type of cheese, the sliced blocks sit on top of the wheel. This section has a series of cheeses from many different areas of the world. For each type of cheese, the blocks are sitting on a wheel of the cheese itself, giving it a bougie, gourmet-like appearance.

Each type of cheese also has a black card label that states the origin and a brief description of the cheese. For the “Asiago Fresca,” the card says “Cleveland, Wisconsin” and its description is “soft and chewy with an outspoken tang.”

I try to find the Manchego, my favorite cheese.  This display has three different types of Manchego, each with a different age: 3-month, 6-month, and 12-month (bottom left). I pick up the 6-month Manchego, and remember how expensive it is. One narrowly sliced block is over $7. What! Well, I put it in my cart anyways. Who’s going to resist? Not me.

Above the display of cheeses is an exhaustive display of different types of crackers and jams (top right). Suggested pairings, I guess? Overall, this display is so large that it took me around 10 steps to walk from one end of the display to the other. There was no one around me while I was at the display, probably because it was so late at night. It could also have been because this cheese display is slightly out of the average student’s budget, and students are usually the only ones still out at this hour in Foggy Bottom.

Eventually, I come across even more cheese in another refrigerated area. At about eye level, I notice blocks of 365 or Whole Foods brand Cheddar cheese (bottom right). I also see Monterey Jack and Mozzarella. Below eye-level, I also find more blocks of Cheddar cheese, but they are not the Whole Foods brand and their selection is much smaller. Strategic placement.